


The Time Trap

by WillSherJohnKhan



Category: Sapphire and Steel, Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Gen, Sapphire & Steel inspired mystery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-19
Updated: 2019-06-25
Packaged: 2019-06-29 13:12:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15730086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WillSherJohnKhan/pseuds/WillSherJohnKhan
Summary: “All irregularities will be handled by the forces controlling each dimension. Transuranic heavy elements may not be used where there is life. Medium atomic weights are available; Gold, Lead, Copper, Jet, Diamond, Radium, Sapphire, Silver and Steel. Sapphire and Steel have been assigned.”Disclaimer:I don’t own any of these characters. I just like to play with them every now and then.





	1. A Breach of Time

***

13 MONTAGUE STREET, LONDON

Time, we are led to believe will go on forever, its momentum continuous, its size immense. And yet – Time had a beginning, as it will have an end.

Time moves forward, but it can also move backwards, and sometimes it can break through into the present. It is then that Time can, at its most benign, play mischievous tricks, as it causes nothing more than a little harmless inconvenience. But in its more malevolent form, it can become incredibly destructive and dangerous.

*

So when Time made its presence felt in the house on Montague Street, a small child crying in her cot for a mother she would never see again, was the only witness to the sheer and absolute power that it wielded.

***


	2. Holmes & Hooper - Detecting Specialists

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The investigation begins.
> 
> Disclaimer:  
> I don’t own any of these characters. I just like to play with them every now and then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully I've got the balance of the two series right.

***

Several hours later...

ACROSS THE ROAD FROM 13 MONTAGUE STREET, LONDON

It may have been a dark and stormy night, but the flashes of lightening and the rumble of thunder could not disguise the mournful sound of a baby crying.

*

On the other side of the road two figures stood, their attention focussed on one terraced house in particular, one that looked exactly like all the others up and down the street. And so it appeared from the outside at least. But it was due to the events that had taken place on the inside that had seen the couple being sent here to investigate. 

The man was tall and slim, with a head of unruly dark curls. His female companion was short with long brown hair, pulled back into a simple, practical ponytail.

But although they both appeared human, appearances can be deceiving.

There was a definite ‘something’ about the pair. And if you were to observe them closely you might even catch a glimpse of what marked them as more than what they seemed.

It took the form of a near visible aura that surrounded them. The man’s was a cool grey, while the woman’s was a bright blue. The colours not only suited their personalities, but gave them their names.

But the chances of your seeing it for certain were slim. For the human mind is apt to offer up a plausible explanation for things that it doesn’t fully comprehend. So in this case it would more than likely be put down to a simple trick of the light coming from the streetlamps that lit the way along the darkened streets numerous nooks and crannies.

*

“You’re certain it’s originating from here?” Steel asked, his tone was clipped, his question direct and to the point.

His companion nodded. “Almost certainly,” she responded, and then waited.

Steel turned to Sapphire, his grey eyes narrowed, “Almost?”

Sapphire turned to meet his gaze, a cheeky smile upon her lips, not the least fazed by his stern expression. “In so far as the origin of the breach took place from the inside of the building not from outside.”

Satisfied, Steel turned back to face the house. But it soon became clear that his usual total focus was disturbed and distracted as he began fidgeting with his hair, and his clothes.

Sapphire raised an enquiring eyebrow, though her amused expression suggested she knew exactly what was irritating him.

“Does this shirt and suit have to be so tight,” he asked, pulling at the shirt collar.

Sapphire moved to stand in front of him, and reached up, removing the tie before undoing the two top buttons on the shirt. Then she smoothed down the shirt collar.

“Better?” she asked, her eyes twinkling.

Steel huffed impatiently. “Why are we doing this again? We don’t normally go to this extreme. Not even for that assignment at that dreadful dinner party”

“You know why,” Sapphire responded patiently. “It’s a very delicate situation involving a small child, not yet a year old. By taking on these personas it should help us to gain the father’s trust more easily.”

“So why did you choose this look for me?”

“It suits your personality, and I like it,” was the impish reply.

“You would,” his cupids bow lips pouted petulantly.

Sapphire remained unapologetic, even going so far as to suggest. “You wouldn’t consider changing the colour of your suit, and your eyes?”

“Certainly not,” Steel sounded almost scandalised by the very notion. As he fiddled with his hair and trousers, he continued. “If I have to agree to this charade, it will be on the proviso that I still maintain my essence in my choice of colour.”

Sapphire shook her head with resignation. “Very well,” she agreed.

“Good,” Steel said with some satisfaction. Having won the small victory, he immediately returned to the issue at hand, becoming all business as he indicated the house with a nod of his head. “Then I believe it’s time we introduced ourselves.”

*** 

13 MONTAGUE STREET

John Watson walked methodically up and down his living room, attempting to calm his distressed baby daughter, Rosie. But as he held her close, rubbing her back to sooth her cries, his thoughts returned to the events that had torn his whole world apart, leaving him shattered, distraught, dumb-founded and angry. He wanted answers. He wanted to know what had happened to his wife, and why?

But Detective Inspector Lestrade from Scotland Yard, though genuinely sympathetic, had appeared completely baffled, and was ultimately unable to give him a plausible explanation as to what had happened to Mary.

There were clear signs of a struggle. John knew his wife would have put up one hell of a fight to protect their precious daughter. But other than that there appeared to be no other clues, the whole scene was a complete mystery.

Lestrade had left promising to contact John as soon as he had the reports back from forensics. But John wasn’t so convinced that the results, if there were any, would offer up any satisfactory answers.

His thoughts were abruptly interrupted by the sharp, precise knocking of the front door.

*

Opening the door John was taken aback, and a little confused by the couple who stood there.

The woman was small, dressed casually in black pants and a brightly coloured jumper, with runners on her feet. The bright smile she gave him was nearly as bright as her incredible blue eyes.

The man by contrast was dressed more formally in a dark grey suit, light grey shirt and expensive leather shoes. His expression was stern, he appeared cool and detached, which mirrored his eyes that were a metallic grey.

“John Hamish Watson,” the man’s authoritative voice broke through John’s thoughts.

“Yes,” he replied automatically, before pausing to look at them again in some confusion. “I’m sorry, do I know you?”

“No,” the man responded as he pushed his way into the house, the woman followed.

John turned and angrily demanded. “Who the hell are you, and what right have you to enter my home?” As the woman calmly closed the door, a possible explanation came to mind and in a slightly calmer tone he asked. “Did Inspector Lestrade send you?”

“We’re not with Scotland Yard, no,” the woman replied, her voice friendly, but distant.

John clutched Rosie tightly to him. “Then who are you?” he demanded.

The man reached into the inside pocket of his jacket, and retrieved a business card that he handed to John.

Holmes & Hooper - Detecting Specialists  
221B Baker Street, London SW1  
‘The agency that comes to you when the Police are out of their depth’  
CONSULTING AGENTS: Sherlock Holmes & Molly Hooper

Before John could fully comprehend what it was he’d just read Sherlock and Molly were already making their way up the stairs.

“Which is the child’s room?” he heard Sherlock ask.

“The second door on the right,” Molly replied.

John rushed after them as carefully as he could with Rosie in his arms. By the time he reached his daughter’s bedroom, the couple were already surveying the room.

Without pausing in his examination Sherlock asked. “Where was the child?”

John looked at him blankly.

Sherlock paused briefly to demand impatiently. “Where was...”

“Rosie,” Molly supplied.

“Where was she when your wife inexplicably disappeared from this room?” Sherlock pointed to the child in John’s arms.

“In her cot,” John replied.

“Put her there please,” Sherlock instructed.

“It’s all right,” Molly reassured him. “Please place her in the cot.”

No sooner had John set her down then Rosie had crawled to one side. Using the bars, she pulled herself unsteadily to her feet. The whole time her gaze remained fixed on one section of the far wall.

Sherlock moved carefully over to the cot, and crouched down to be at Rosie’s eye level to see clearly the exact spot that had captured her attention.

When John made to move forward, Sherlock stopped him with a look.

Sherlock indicated with a nod of his head for Molly to investigate that section of the wall.

Molly walked cautiously towards the wall, her hands raised, the palms outward facing. After a couple of minutes she reported. “Yes, this is where it broke through.”

“And is it still here?” Sherlock asked as he stood up slowly.

“Yes, but its muted.”

“It’s hiding?”

Molly continued to scan before giving her answer. “I believe so, yes.”

“Collect the child,” Sherlock instructed as he made his way out of the room.

John lifted Rosie out of the cot and followed the extraordinary couple.

Due to her position that had her facing in the opposite direction to the adults, Rosie was the only one to see the dull patch of light move from its hiding place under the wardrobe to the cot, where it disappeared under the covers. Rosie reached out a chubby hand pointing towards her cot, but none of the adults were paying attention.

The door to the bedroom was firmly shut and then they all headed downstairs.

***  


	3. Time to Think

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer:  
> I don’t own any of these characters. I just like to play with them every now and then.

***

13 MONTAGUE STREET, LONDON

“Is there somewhere else the child can sleep?” Steel asked.

“She can sleep in our…my room,” John responded.

Steel nodded satisfied, before turning briefly back to the now closed door to Rosie’s bedroom. “That door is not to be opened under any circumstances,” he instructed firmly. Then, as if to himself he continued. “Not until we know exactly what type of game Time is playing here.”

John frowned, clearly confused. “I’m sorry, what do you mean time…”

Steel ignored him. Leaving the banal niceties of politeness to Sapphire, who was expert at putting people at ease, as she explained the seemingly incomprehensible complexities of time as if they were an everyday occurrence Steel headed back down the stairs.

There was much going on here, with an infinite number of possibilities. His mind was focused on what had drawn Time to break through on this occasion.

On previous assignments they had been able to establish that Time had; used nursery rhymes and old photographs; had made false promises to the dead; had been used as a weapon of revenge: and had attempted to change the course of history.

But what motivated it now?

They needed to find the answer, and quickly. For it was clear that Time was after something in particular, something that it had been unable to obtain on this occasion, of that Steel was certain.

So they needed to find a way of preventing it from making another attempt.

To do that he needed somewhere quiet to think and to make an analysis of the available data, scant as it was.

But he couldn’t do that here. He needed to distance himself from the distractions of the distraught child and her father, who wanted answers to things that were beyond his understanding.

Telepathically, he told Sapphire. ‘221B Baker Street. Now.’

***

MONTAGUE STREET

By the time Sapphire caught up with Steel he was already out of the house and striding at pace down the street.

“Steel!” she called, as she attempted to keep up with his longer stride.

“What!” Steel snapped impatiently, coming to an abrupt halt. There was important work to do. They didn’t have time for idle and unnecessary chit-chat.

“You can’t leave them unprotected,” Sapphire stated firmly.

“I haven’t,” Steel responded, nonchalantly indicating across the street from the Watson’s address.

In the near darkness they were almost indiscernible from the shadows where they stood. But once Sapphire spotted them she let out a sigh of relief.

Lead stood guard, taking on the persona of a slim and scraggy down-and-out type, while the other sentry, Gold stood tall, looking particularly dapper in an expensive, top of the line three-piece-suit, the ensemble topped off with an umbrella that he used like a walking stick despite the fact the storm had passed.

Satisfied Sapphire trailed after Steel.

*

They had been walking for some time when Steel finally asked. “How the devil do we get to Baker Street from here?”

“Like this,” Sapphire replied with a smile, raising her arm. And as if by magic a taxi pulled up alongside them.

“Where you going to?” the cabbie asked once the couple had climbed aboard.

“Baker St, number 221B,” Sapphire responded.

*** 

221B BAKER STREET, LONDON

If the landlady Mrs Hudson was surprised by the arrival of the Interdimensional Operatives, or the identities that they had taken on she didn’t show it.

She simply ushered them inside, before allowing them to make their way up the stairs to the flat they had used once before.

*

“You believe the child to be the true target?” Sapphire said.

Loathed as he was to admit it, he was as disturbed by the very notion as Sapphire.

“Yes I do.”

They had been trying to make sense of what it was Time was trying to achieve by breaking through where, and how it had.

“But why her, it makes no sense.” 

Steel sat down in the leather chair by the fireplace. In silent contemplation, with his hands pressed together and positioned under his chin he contemplated a number of plausible explanations. “The parents,” he finally responded. “What do we know about them?”

Sapphire’s eyes changed from dark brown to a dazzling, glowing blue. “Father, John Hamish Watson, Army doctor, trained at St Bartholomew’s Hospital London, deployed to Afghanistan with the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers, stationed at Kandahar and Helmand.” 

“What about the mother?”

“Mary Rosemond Watson (nee Morstan), CIA trained Agent, employed by various governments who needed someone with her particular skill-set before she went freelance.”

“So, an assassin.”

“Yes.”

Steel became thoughtful again as he processed the information, and then incorporated it into what they had already established about the breakthrough in the child’s bedroom.

It was all finally beginning to make sense.

“So we have two people, both highly skilled in the affairs of combat and weaponry, meet up by chance, fall in love, get married and have a child.”

Sapphire’s eyes widened with understanding as she caught on to where Steel was heading with his explanation. “They voluntarily leave their violent professions and settle down to start a dull and ordinary life in which to raise their daughter.”

“Precisely.”

“But the human race is full of such occurrences, of decisions to change direction and leave old lives behind. What makes this one so important?”

“I don’t know,” Steel admitted. “I can only assume Time had a reason for wanting them to continue in their chosen professions.”

“There was something Time wanted them to do, but they refused.” Sapphire suggested.

“Possibly, but we need to know for certain.”

“Yes, I agree.”

***

13 MONTAGUE STREET - JOHN & MARY’S BEDROOM

Left on her own, Rosie lay in the bassinet in her parent’s room. She could hear her daddy downstairs, pacing.

Movement caught her attention. She turned just in time to observe the circle of light that had been in her bedroom slip under the doorway into this one.

The light moved over to the bassinet, where it immediately began to morph into a familiar form.

***

**Author's Note:**

> There was originally a bit more to this chapter, but it never sat well where it was, and then I realised it worked better in what will become the fourth chapter. :-)
> 
> Don't forget to leave Kudos and Comments, they are always most welcome and appreciated.


End file.
